"It's a little self indulgent..." - My mom"After I read a sentence, I get mad at myself for caring what you're doing." -Karl Dusen

Thursday, October 28, 2010

My drinking problem

If you have run with me, especially in the summer, you know I sweat. A lot.

Try as I might, even though I felt the heat itself was more of a problem than hydration in Chicago, I need to streamline my in-race drinking.

My digestive system isn't great, and soon after I drink pretty much any time, I usually need to burp badly. When I finish running, I usually gulp water, and have way too much. I'm clearly not going to drink that much during Marine Corps, but it's still an issue.

For the last few weeks I have been working on drinking while running. To an extent, it has been easier. Initially I just tried to drink from bottles halfway through my runs.

Howard gave me some advice on drinking while running:

It was hard to get used to at first and felt weird running with a gut full of fluid, but it passes quickly and you get back on pace. You HAVE to get more than just what you can get in a cup and a few sips. Lots of bad marathons have been blamed on heat, pace, poor training, when they were actually due to not enough fluid.It's like Survivor when they say "on the island, fire represents life." In a marathon, fluid represents life. Get used to getting fluid into you. All that other stuff including the heat can be blamed on not enough fluid.You gotta get used to training with it or race day is a bad day to experiment...I once ran a 70 second 400 while drinking a 16oz bottle of Gatorade just as a joke because I was doing my 12X400 workout in front of the VT track team one day. But that's the kind of comfort you have to develop with drinking or its gonna be tough all the time.

My 10 mile run through the New Virginia Manor loop went well on the Tuesday of week two. On Wednesday I practiced drinking while running around 5:40 pace on the MCM course on Hains Point with 60 second recoveries- 5:39,5:29,5:27. Way too fast. Thursday I ran out the W&OD to Gallows Road and back to the Reacharound on a reverse Fineview Park. Friday I ran about 12 miles around Hains Point and the Mall, getting a few miles of the MCM course in. Saturday morning I ran about 11.5 with the GRC guys, including a minor detour. Sunday I slept in and didn't run until the evening. It was a lot warmer in the evening than it had been in a while, and though I started well, 3.5 miles in, I was dizzy. I turned and came home, I think that was the beginning of me getting sick. I took Monday off, Tuesday I did an easy eight, a partial reverse Pimmit Hills. Still dizzy.Wednesday I forced myself to run another dress rehearsal on the track. Among several different workouts, I averaged 5:39s, grabbing five cups of Gatorade along the way. It wasn't good, I'd much prefer to use water bottles, but it will have to do.

The cold is beating me. The swamp of a field in the middle of the B-CC track was alive with mosquitos, and one bit my head. The bite ballooned into a gigantic lump on the edge of my right temple.Thursday was yet another day of dull illness. I decided to take the day off of running, have some Benedryl when I got home and here I am, trying to finish this before I pass out.

Right now I'm not feeling too great about this marathon. I think trying to go under 2:30 is out of the question- I have been pretty much tapered for five weeks now, which is way too long. I'm miserably sick. So, I guess I will take it easy. I hope nobody shoots at us.I get to see Richmond race at Schenley Park on Saturday before coming back for the marathon.

I'm starting to pass out, so I should stop writing, even though I know I haven't written much of importance. This is cool, though I rarely run on that trail. Also, this is a good series of reasons why I don't feel much confidence with GPS watches.